Birthday Gifts
by Yoko Black
Summary: It’s Harry’s birthday and Draco has a memorial present for the Boy-Who-Lived. Sequel to Birthday Trip.


**Title: Birthday Gifts**

**Genre: Romance/Drama**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: It's Harry's birthday and Draco has a memorial present for the Boy-Who-Lived. Sequel to **_**Birthday**__**Trip**_**.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own, or make money off of Harry Potter and its characters. **

**Birthday Gifts**

"Harry, wake up! Wake up, Harry!"

Harry groaned as he turned over on the bed in Gryffindor Tower. Through it was July, Harry and many of the other students decided to stay at Hogwarts to help rebuild the castle in time for when school starts that September, only a month away.

"WAKE UP, HARRY!!" several voices yelled and Harry flew out of bed, by a spell or his own reaction his friends' and roommates' shouts he didn't know.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that you're sleeping in on your birthday," said Ron with a wide grin on his face.

"My birthday?" asked Harry. Hermione held up a calendar and Harry groaned. It was July 31st. He had lost track of the days.

"Come on," said Luna pulling Harry by his arms in an attempt to get him out of bed. "Everyone's getting ready for the party!"

"Party?" said Harry immediately alert.

"Yeah, did you think that the world was going to forget the Savior of the Wizarding World's birthday this soon after the end of the war?" asked Hermione. "Everybody will need a reason to celebrate."

"Or murder me," said Harry throwing himself back down on the bed and threw a pillow over his head. "No party."

"WHAT?!" said all of his friends.

"Do I have to repeat myself? No party!"

"But why not," asked Seamus. It actually surprised Harry that the boy stayed to help rebuild the school. Seamus wasn't the most loyal of friends but Harry was glad the boy stuck to something when it counted. "Everyone will be there. Ron's family, the survivors, the students, Ministry officials, your relatives and even Hermione's parents got permission to come …."

"Wait, my relatives are coming?!" asked Harry in shocked frightened voice, shooting upright in bed.

"No, um, actually, they turned it down," said Neville. "Apparently they had something to do today. Your cousin did send a present."

"But my parents are coming," said Hermione excitedly. "I've told them so much about Hogwarts that they jumped at the chance. Oh, and Viktor is coming too! He misses me." Ron growled and Hermione laughed and grabbed his arm. "Don't worry, Ron, I told him we were going out and that I would save him one dance."

"You told him we're going out?" asked Ron and Hermione nodded. "What did he say about it?"

"He's said, and I quote, "It's about time that boy caught the Snitch and not let it slip through his fingers"."

Everyone laughed as Ron blushed a bright red. The look of embarrassment on his face only made Hermione hold onto him tighter as she giggled.

"Why don't you want a party, Harry," asked Ginny. "You were more then up to it last year at our house."

Her question made Harry blush and he had to clear his throat before answering.

"Well, it'll be different," he said holding his head in his hand on his propped knee. "At the Burrow, it was like being part of a family. I knew everyone and everyone knew me. No one was there just to met me and get my autograph. They were my friends. Now I feel like one of those Muggle celebrities holding a gala just to get more publicity."

"It makes sense," said Luna and everyone looked at her. "A birthday shouldn't be about more photo-ops. It should be a celebration on being alive, and we need this now more then ever." Everyone continued to look at her in surprised confused expressions. "What?"

"You actually made sense, Luna," said Neville next to her. Luna grinned as she slapped him.

"I make sense all the time, Neville," she said.

"Well, might as well get this day over with," said Harry. "If I'm going to be murdered, I want it to be swift and clean."

"This'll be one for the history books," said Ron. "_Harry Potter Survived Dark Lord and Died at Birthday Party Four Months Later._"

"_Suspects were balloons, streamers and birthday gifts_," added Ginny and everyone laughed.

They walked out of the dormitory and down the hall. A lot of the castle had already been restored but most had to be rebuilt. An entire hallway had caved in on the second floor and everyone was lucky that the ceiling held on the first, but it was still a lot to move and magic back to where each pebble was supposed to be. Painting had been burned to beyond repair and tapestries had to be repaired delicately. Harry didn't even want to know about the damage in the Room of Requirement.

They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at a table. House students were scattered around and no one cared who they sat with, except the Slytherins. They were the only ones that sat in a table separate from everyone else and there were very few.

Harry could see sixth years that had stayed behind because their families were either in Azkaban or had sided with Harry during the war, Millicent Bulstrode comforting a still grieving Gregory Goyle. Goyle hadn't been the same after Crabbe's death, hardly eating and needing to be lead around by the hand. His magic sometimes went out of control if he got too emotional. Harry found it strange to see one without the other, but it was the same with George as well. Blaise Zabini sat at the end of the table not far from Goyle and next to him, much to everyone's surprise, was Draco Malfoy.

Harry never found out why Malfoy had stayed, his father was under house arrest and after a private discussion with Shacklebolt Harry had made sure that Narcissa had stayed out of Azkaban. To find Draco actually staying and helping with the clean-up was a shock. Ron almost had a heart attack when he walked in on Malfoy washing very dirty hands before lunch one day, Zabini leaning against the wall like a body guard. Harry had always meant to ask, but Malfoy was never alone. Zabini or Millicent and Goyle were with him all the time. Hermione suspected it was because too many people would want revenge against Malfoy and his family and Harry agreed. Harry never got his answer and Malfoy continued to work.

"Forget about him, Harry," said Ron following his friend's gaze to the blonde. "He's probably looking for a way to stay out of prison."

"And isn't that a good thing," asked Hermione. "Muggles call it community service."

"Well, wizards call it sucking up," said Ron and the friends went to empty seats in a nearby table. Immediately Harry was crowded by students wanting autographs, talk to him, or shake his hand. Harry obliged a few just to keep them off his back and after that his friends made a human shield around him, keeping the fans at bay and allowed Harry to eat.

"Piranhas, all of them," said Seamus in a growl.

"I thought the same abut reporters," said Hermione as they ate their pancakes with sausage and syrup.

"Do you want anything today, Harry?" asked Ron. "Mum's going to drag you out of work to buy you some new clothes and anything else you want?"

"A normal birthday, thank you," said Harry.

"Since when have you been normal," said Dean in a humorous tone, and cleared his throat at the look the three friends gave him. "Right, sorry."

"But seriously, Harry, what do you want today," asked Ginny.

"I just want a normal day to be myself, that's all," said Harry.

Malfoy had finished by then, got up and walked out of the Great Hall with his three bodyguards after him. Four pairs of eyes watched as they left, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Please tell me he's not coming to the party," begged Ron to his friends.

"Sorry, Ron," said Hermione. "Open invitation."

Ron groaned.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the corridors surrounding the Great Hall for the party. Mrs. Weasley come not long after breakfast and dragged Harry away to buy new clothes. Mr. Weasley had gotten a raise for outstanding services during the war and his department was now getting proper funding. That meant the Weasleys now had more money then they had in years, and were using every opportunity to buy new things.

Once in Diagon Alley, Harry only bought the simplest of clothes, not wanting to spend too much of the new money the Weasleys just got, and a new book on magical creatures by Newt Scamander Hermione had been itching to read. They kept their visit simple and quick, not wanting Harry to be spotted by the adoring fans.

When evening came so did the party. Harry greeted each of his guests in his new dress robes that Mrs. Weasley made him buy and wear. They looked a lot like his old ones, exact same green shade and cut. Luckily Harry bought Ron a set as well in black and Ron hadn't stopped smiling since.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," said Shacklebolt shaking Harry's hand at the entrance. Harry smiled gratefully and shook back.

"Thank you, Minister," he said. When Shacklebolt left Harry returned to greeting the rest of his guests.

The party went off without a hitch. The guests laughed and danced to the music and Mrs. Weasley supervised the whole celebration. Harry was forced to play good host and mingled around the crowds. Presents were piled on a table that Harry would open when he was supposed to.

"Harry," called Ginny and smiled at him. "You owe use girls a dance."

Harry looked over at Hermione and Luna who were standing next to Ginny and smiled. He danced with each of them, Ron and Neville not minding at all. When the ball portion of the celebration was over, dinner was served of all of Harry's favorites, Muggle and wizard cuisine alike, followed by cake and ice cream. Presents were opened as everyone ate.

Harry got presents from almost everyone. The ones who didn't know what to give him got him something practical like a new set of robes or cards with a Galleon. Harry thanked everyone to be polite. His friends gave him things he wanted: Ron a new Quidditch jersey, Hermione a new book of course, and Ginny a new pair of gloves to go with the jersey. Surprisingly, Dudley got him Muggle book on Merlin. Harry had to pass it around because everyone wanted to look through the story of their historic hero.

He came to one present that had green and silver paper and looked at the tag. _Draco Malfoy_. Intrigued Harry opened the present and found a book he all but forgotten about. It was one he wanted to read when he was younger, but a blonde haired grey eyed boy beat him to it and Harry missed his chance. The book was well worn, suggesting that it had been read many times. A note slipped out and Harry picked it up.

"_I yield myself to the true Thief Lord."_

Harry looked up but the blonde Slytherin was nowhere in sight. Getting up from his seat he ran out of the Great Hall, clutching the book as he did.

"Harry," called Hermione. "You're party!"

"I'll be back," called Harry over his shoulder.

He ran out of the Entrance Hall and out the front doors, running to the lake where he instinctively knew where to find Malfoy. The blonde sat against a tree, throwing rocks into the Black Lake.

"Draco," called Harry. Draco looked at his from the corner of his eye. "You remembered? You remember when we met as kids in that Muggle bookstore?"

"One could hardly forget you," said Draco. Standing up he walked to Harry and took one of the Gryffindor's hands. Harry could feel the plastic ring he had given Draco for his birthday long ago against the palm of his hand. He didn't want to think on how many spells Draco put on it to keep it from fall apart and to fit his finger properly. Draco softly smiled down at him.

"By the way," said Harry looking up at Draco. "Why are you here cleaning instead of at the Manor having your house-elves serve on you hand and foot?"

"Well, you and I are going to have to come out of the closet sometime, and I just want it to be on good terms," said Draco with a smirk.

"So you thought a bit of community service would do the trick?"

"Wizards call it sucking up," said Draco, reminding Harry of Ron earlier and he laughed out loud, surprising Draco. "What?"

"I have the weirdest taste in friends," he said laughing and Draco laughed with him.

"I would have to agree," said Draco and smiled at him. "Happy Birthday, Harry."

Harry softly smiled back and leaned up to kiss his boyfriend.

**END**


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